Lawyer and/or media gadabout Michael Avenatti has thus far provided a great deal of the comic relief in l’affaire Stormy Daniels, but there are a surprising number of serious questions about him that remain unanswered.

For instance, who’s paying him? Daniels has confirmed that she isn’t footing the bill, and from the looks of things, Avenatti’s round-the-clock availability seems to indicate that he’s not doing a whole lot of work for other clients.

Also, is the person paying Avenatti associated in any way with the DNC or outside political groups? Is he protecting Daniels from penalties she might incur? And, perhaps most crucially, how much is he being paid?

In spite of the fact that Avenatti’s appearances on cable news seem more frequent than takeoffs at LaGuardia, we don’t have any answers to these questions — nor indeed does anyone on CNN or MSNBC feel particularly inclined to ask them. They just assume that it’s none of their business and move along their merry way.